EVALUATING WEBSITES
Remember that anyone who knows how to use a computer and has Internet access can publish information to a website. While we know not everything written in books and databases is reliable, these types of sources at least go through an editing process where others check the information for accuracy, so they are more easily trustworthy. Because anyone can post anything online at any time, we need to know how to evaluate websites so we can be savvy researchers. While this will take time at first, the more you practice website evaluation, the quicker you will be able to do it. Soon, you will be able to scan a website and be able to determine within a brief moment whether or not you should use it for your research.
Wikipedia and other User-Generated Sites
Wikipedia isn't all bad, but it is an encyclopedia where anyone can create articles and edit information. Sure, articles get checked, but a lot goes unnoticed, and often, Wikipedia will just put a disclaimer on an article about how something does not have sufficient references. We will never be able to tell who wrote or edited an article on Wikipedia, as that remains hidden, and often, articles are written and edited by many, many people. The same goes for sites like Yahoo!Answers and Answers.com. Anyone can write in responses to users' questions. Sure some of the answers are accurate, but many are not. In addition, just like with Wikipedia, we know very little if anything about the authors of the information on these sites.
General Rule
Wikipedia and other user-generated sites are fine for things like background research to become familiar with a topic (info you will not be citing in your assignment) or topics you just are interested in reading about. But, if you are going to use your research for a graded assignment, do not use these sites. Unless your teacher instructs otherwise, these sites should not be used to provide information in any graded assignment nor should we see them as a source in your works cited.
Wikipedia isn't all bad, but it is an encyclopedia where anyone can create articles and edit information. Sure, articles get checked, but a lot goes unnoticed, and often, Wikipedia will just put a disclaimer on an article about how something does not have sufficient references. We will never be able to tell who wrote or edited an article on Wikipedia, as that remains hidden, and often, articles are written and edited by many, many people. The same goes for sites like Yahoo!Answers and Answers.com. Anyone can write in responses to users' questions. Sure some of the answers are accurate, but many are not. In addition, just like with Wikipedia, we know very little if anything about the authors of the information on these sites.
General Rule
Wikipedia and other user-generated sites are fine for things like background research to become familiar with a topic (info you will not be citing in your assignment) or topics you just are interested in reading about. But, if you are going to use your research for a graded assignment, do not use these sites. Unless your teacher instructs otherwise, these sites should not be used to provide information in any graded assignment nor should we see them as a source in your works cited.
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User-Generated Sources, Video credit: Imagine Easy Solutions
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Evaluating Accuracy, Video credit: Imagine Easy
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Need helping determining the validity of a source? Check out these great sources!
